1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to control of computer equipment. In particular, examples of the present invention relate to an approach for splitting control of computer equipment at a customer location between the local equipment and remote equipment.
2. Background
Many organizations such as businesses rely on computer networks. Computer networks may frequently include local computers such as work stations and servers and may also interface with remote customer computers via the internet. Frequently, computer networks have a gateway computer which is responsible for management of network traffic. For example, a computer may provide network security and manage both local network traffic and internet traffic. As network/internet communications bandwidth has increased, demand for rich content in documents, media, webpages, etc. has also increased. As network traffic increases, it becomes increasingly difficult for a gateway computer to manage network traffic. It becomes cost prohibitive for many organizations to maintain a gateway computer with sufficient processing power and storage capacity to fully satisfy the network traffic demands.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.